Nothing Beats Hot, Homemade Bread !

I bake a lot of our own bread, and I usually start preparing it in the morning so that it has time to rise and bake in time for lunch. Nothing quite beats the taste of a crusty loaf served warm out of the oven ? yum !

This is my ?standard? white bread recipe and if it looks familiar ? it is ! It was one of the very first recipes I ever featured on the blog, in February 2008 and in that recipe I used it to make Foccacia bread with fresh Rosemary. This time I?m using the same recipe to make a humble white loaf -:


White Bread (from the South African ?Woman?s Value? magazine of August 2000)

680 g White Flour
10 ml (2 tsp) salt
1 sachet (10g/2 tsp) instant dried Yeast
30 ml (2 tbsp) Oil
450 ml lukewarm Water

Place flour, salt & yeast into a bowl. Mix the water & oil together in a jug. Pour water/oil into flour mixture & mix quickly to form a soft dough.

Turn out onto a floured surface & begin kneading. Knead by folding the dough in half towards you, then push down away from you, using the heel of your hand. Give the dough a quarter turn & repeat the process. Knead for 10 minutes until dough is smooth & elastic. Place dough in a large greased bowl & cover with a clean, damp dish cloth. Place in a warm spot & allow to rise for 1 to 1 ½ hours, until doubled in size.

Then knead dough lightly again for 2 minutes. Press dough out to form a flat shape the length of your baking tin/s & 3 times the width. Fold in edges of the long sides to the centre, then carefully place into the greased baking tin with the join underneath.

Cover again & let rise for another hour until doubled in size. Bake in preheated oven at 220?C/400?F/Gas Mark 6 for 30 ? 35 minutes.